Blame teachers for unemployment – KAMA boss

The Director General of the KAMA Education Project (KEP), Dr. Michael Agyekum Addo, has blamed teachers for being the main cause of unemployment in the country.

“The cause of unemployment lies at the doorsteps of teachers for not inculcating the culture of entrepreneurship in students.

“Government believes it is giving teachers the necessary infrastructure, paying them and creating the enabling environment and expects them to deliver. Parents believe they don’t have the requisite skills to teach their children and they are paying school fees for teachers to train them to become medical doctors, engineers and successful businessmen.

“So, if government is paying you and the parent is also paying school fees for the teacher to give direction to the children, then the responsibilities lie with the teacher to be able to turn out businessmen and employers -- but not employees,” he said.

According to him, there is no linkage between the lessons that students learn in school and the practical expectations of them when they come out of school.

He said teachers should inculcate the culture of entrepreneurship in students so that they will leave school not to look for employment but rather create it.

This, he said, will encourage them to start their own businesses when they come out of school instead of looking for non-existent jobs.

The issue of graduate unemployment remains a serious challenge to government, considering the huge turnout from the various tertiary institutions on an annual basis without commensurate job opportunities.

Dr. Agyekum was speaking to the B&FT in an interview at a six-week entrepreneurial training programme organised by the KEP in Accra.

He believes that in the 21st century things are changing and unemployment is increasing because new businesses are not being created. So the only way, he says, is to change the people’s mindset.

He said the entrepreneurial training KEP provides is aimed at training participants to see an opportunity in the business environment and seize it to create businesses, and even employ others.